Is the rx 480 worth buying with my a10 7890k CPU?

Joey_61 · Apr 4, 2017

I have a A10 7890k 4.3ghz CPU with a FM2+ type motherboard, my question is, can i buy the Gigabyte Radeon™ RX 480 G1 Gaming 8G Graphics/Video Card (GV-RX480G1GAMING-8GD) without any problems or bottlenecking?

bishopi5 · Apr 4, 2017

You sure can !

Ali Tauseef · Apr 4, 2017

It will likely bottleneck but it will work.

Joey_61 · Apr 4, 2017

Can you guys recommend any other gpu for my CPU and motherboard? I am currently using the sapphire r7 240 4gb ddr3 for now, will buying the rx480 make a big difference?

bishopi5 · Apr 4, 2017

No its a great match and won't bottleneck..

Joey_61 · Apr 4, 2017

Can you guys recommend any other gpu for my CPU and motherboard? I am currently using the sapphire r7 240 4gb ddr3 for now, will buying the rx480 make a big difference?

Ali Tauseef · Apr 4, 2017

Joey_61 :

bishopi5 :

It will bottleneck, yes not by much but the processor is not capable enough.
You should go with the 1050 Ti, it will go perfectly with ti.

Yup, even with a 1050 ti you'll see a huge improvement in performance.

wh3resmycar · Apr 4, 2017

NO DON'T. here, this is quite recent:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3376572/7890k-470-8gb.html

if you want to experience the same thing go ahead. YOU DO NOT PUT A DISCREET GPU IN AN AMD APU SYSTEM. you just dont.

Joey_61 · Apr 4, 2017

The geforce gtx 1050 ti right? Sorry I'm new at this, they say pairing a amd CPU with a nvidia GPU isn't rocommended? And if i do get the gtx 1050 ti, which one should i get, i mean how much gigs should i get without overdoing it with my CPU, again sorry I'm kinda new to this

Ali Tauseef · Apr 4, 2017

Joey_61 :

Honestly that's just a myth, it's not supposed to matter. You should go with the EVGA model, and there's no need to worry about Vram, they akll come with 4 GB. Most of them have same clock speeds so you don't need to worry which one to get, but anyway get an EVGA Model.

wh3resmycar · Apr 4, 2017

alright. you should look at this with 2 perspective. long term and short term. short term: you can put a dGPU (discreet GPU) in there and see improvements but at diminishing returns due to the CPU bottle neck. Long term: save up for a new system. new AMD quad cores are coming in, you can look into that.

now if you'd buy a dGPU, i wouldn't get the 1050 ti. i'd get a rx560 or 1050 non ti.

Joey_61 · Apr 4, 2017

Ok im confused with the different answers now

here are my specs
Motherboard: FM2+ type
CPU: AMD A10-7890K with AMD Wraith cooler Quad-Core
GPU: Sapphire r7 240 4gb DDR3
RAM: 8gb

I want to know, which reasonable GPU should i upgrade to without serious bottlenecking. Should i just keep my gpu? Is the platform i got that bad?

Ali Tauseef · Apr 4, 2017

Joey_61 :

Just go with the 1050 ti, as I said. It will do very well with your processor.

uberman · Apr 4, 2017

Your CPU is not great but not horrible either. While the 480 is kind of overkill for your machine the 1050ti would give a great improvement for the price over that anemic GPU that you have. Bottleneck is thrown around a lot but improvement is good and that is the best you can get without building a new machine APU or not.

4745454b · Apr 4, 2017

Ok im confused with the different answers

I understand what wheresmycar is trying to say, but he comes off as a bit wrong. (and to suggest the 1050 instead of the 1050TI is just weird considering they are so close in performance.) Basically he's trying to say that the APUs from AMD aren't worth using a dGPU. In a word I would say wrong. AMDs CPU issue has been going on for awhile and most of the time their CPUs are enough, but there are enough "random" times they aren't that I don't really suggest using them. You are already using one of the best APUs so I'm going to give you the same advice I give to people using the 8320, etc. First, some proof that the 7890K isn't horrid.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9307/the-kaveri-refresh-godavari-review-testing-amds-a10-7870k/6

Here they are testing the 7870K and other CPUs with either an R9285 or the GTX770. Notice that in Alien: Isolation the 7870 sits at the top of the APUs, and JUST behind the Intel CPUs when testing with both GPUs. In fact unless you go down to the lowest A8 or A6 APUs they all perform around the same. When looking at GTA:V it's still able to stay in the mix. To claim that you shouldn't put a GPU into a system with an APU is a very odd thing to claim.

That said the APU isn't the best gaming processing unit to have. If you look at the results for GRID, none of the APUs are able to hit 60FPS while all of the Intel CPUs can with the 285. I would argue it's safe to add the best GPU you can with the understanding that some games here and there will fall short. To fix this you need to stop using AMDs older CPUs and use either Intel CPUs or the new Ryzen CPUs from AMD. Either option will require a new motherboard and ram however so it's not cheap.

Joey_61 · Apr 4, 2017

Thankyou for all the answers guys! This will help me alot in deciding what to do with my build!

4745454b · Apr 4, 2017

Read that review I linked. For the most part you'll be fine, but expect random games to have issues. I would go for a GPU. The 240 isn't a good gaming card. There are a lot better cards out there.

wh3resmycar · Apr 4, 2017

4745454b :

Ok im confused with the different answers

I understand what wheresmycar is trying to say, but he comes off as a bit wrong. (and to suggest the 1050 instead of the 1050TI is just weird considering they are so close in performance.) Basically he's trying to say that the APUs from AMD aren't worth using a dGPU. In a word I would say wrong. AMDs CPU issue has been going on for awhile and most of the time their CPUs are enough, but there are enough "random" times they aren't that I don't really suggest using them. You are already using one of the best APUs so I'm going to give you the same advice I give to people using the 8320, etc. First, some proof that the 7890K isn't horrid.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9307/the-kaveri-refresh-godavari-review-testing-amds-a10-7870k/6

Here they are testing the 7870K and other CPUs with either an R9285 or the GTX770. Notice that in Alien: Isolation the 7870 sits at the top of the APUs, and JUST behind the Intel CPUs when testing with both GPUs. In fact unless you go down to the lowest A8 or A6 APUs they all perform around the same. When looking at GTA:V it's still able to stay in the mix. To claim that you shouldn't put a GPU into a system with an APU is a very odd thing to claim.

That said the APU isn't the best gaming processing unit to have. If you look at the results for GRID, none of the APUs are able to hit 60FPS while all of the Intel CPUs can with the 285. I would argue it's safe to add the best GPU you can with the understanding that some games here and there will fall short. To fix this you need to stop using AMDs older CPUs and use either Intel CPUs or the new Ryzen CPUs from AMD. Either option will require a new motherboard and ram however so it's not cheap.

the reason why i suggested the 1050(non Ti) is for him to save more money so in the long run he can buy a new system. yeah it's weird right?

and if losing 30fps due to CPU bottlenecking is fine, then i am indeed spreading misinformation :lol:

madmatt30 · Apr 4, 2017

Go with a 470 or 480 4gb - those cards offer the best price to performance ratio by an absolute mile.

Be wary as the aftermarket 480s can draw a fair bit of power .

You haven't mentioned your PSU at all & that's really going to dictate what GPU you actually go for.

If it's low wattage then the 1050ti 'may' indeed be your best choice as its a low power card but for $20-25 more the 470 offers 30-40% more grunt.

Discount the 480 8gb IMO , with your current CPU its not a good bang for buck option.

4745454b · Apr 4, 2017

What I picked up on is when you said it's pointless to add a GPU to an APU system.

YOU DO NOT PUT A DISCREET GPU IN AN AMD APU SYSTEM. you just dont.

The gains that can be had by doing that are well worth the cost of the GPU. As already mentioned you won't see the full value of the card because it's an APU, but you will see much better FPS overall. As both our links show he won't get the full value of the card, but he will see much better scores compared to whats in the APU. As for a bottleneck my links were an attempt to show that even with the A10 APU it's not as bad of a bottleneck. Something you clearly missed. An OC'd i7 Intel CPU will give better frame rates as shown by your link. Duh. I don't think anyone would disagree.

wh3resmycar · Apr 4, 2017

4745454b :

It is pointless. the reason you bought the APU is because of it's graphics unit. adding a GPU yields terrible return of investment as you could've went with a CPU and discreet GPU. now you're stuck with an APU that is clearly bottlenecking dGPUs.

for the bolded section. i swear this would be easier if newer Ryzen reviews included APUs in the GTA5 section, but they didn't. And most reviews are already showing the most powerful previous Gen FX Chip lagging behind. so i don't know what more you can say with an APU.

so let's clear it up, you're suggesting to have the OP buy a $200 GPU with the knowledge that he will be losing 30fps (or more this is on average) due to CPU bottlenecking?

you win mate, you win. :lol:

madmatt30 · Apr 4, 2017

@ wh3resmycar - I understand what you're saying too but the fact is its still worth dropping a dedicated GPU in the op's build to game with.

& the 1050ti probably would be the max sensible choice but RX 470s are literally $20 more.

& should he ever upgrade the whole system the 470 will be a much more viable 'carry over' card than the 1050 ti.
I don't find the 1050ti that impressive at all on performance , incredible efficiency to performance ratio yes but that's all.

No one would ever suggest to build with an apu & a disccrete GPU from scratch but when someone already has that apu in a build a GPU upgrade is in no way a worthless or pointless option as you keep saying.

Plenty of people with 860k/880ks have a 470 or 480 & are happy enough & that 7970k is just an 880k with integrated graphics.

4745454b · Apr 4, 2017

Can you show me a link where the A10 78xx or 79xx is giving -50% less FPS than a 8320 with a GPU? Your link, with different settings, shows an APU providing 20FPS less to an i7 5690 clocked at 4.4GHz on all cores. Again, duh. It's not the case of an APU, it's the case of AMD vs best Intel has to offer.

so let's clear it up, you're suggesting to have the OP buy a $200 GPU with the knowledge that he will be losing 30fps (or more this is on average) due to CPU bottlenecking?

This is the case of me telling an APU user they should be a better GPU than the 240. That card isn't really meant for gaming. Would I buy the 480? As mentioned above, probably not. A 1050(ti), 470, 960 if it's cheap enough, etc would be fine. From what I've seen AMDs APUs are just behind the FX CPUs in gaming benchmarks so I see no reason why one should avoid putting a GPU in there if they already bought the APU. Were there better options? Yes. But that's what they have now.

Edit: Madmatt pretty much sums what I've been saying. It's not the greatest setup, but it works. I'd love to see those benchmarks.

wh3resmycar · Apr 4, 2017

madmatt30 :

i'd love to share the enthusiasm, but in all my years here at Toms not once i suggested to buy an APU if a dGPU will be added in the future. again, terrible return of investment.

http://techreport.com/review/31366/amd-ryzen-7-1800x-ryzen-7-1700x-and-ryzen-7-1700-cpus-reviewed/10

here you can already see the frametimings on an FX8370, a 7890k will be much MUCH worse.

that's why i suggested the cheapest option which is the 1050(non Ti). use all the savings to buy a new system. more expensive cards will depreciate much harder, and i don't think anyone can contest this.

madmatt30 · Apr 4, 2017

The 1050 is crap value for money though - simple fact .

Upgrade the rest of the system & you'll then be stuck with a GPU bottleneck & have to upgrade that.

The 470 is the sensible choice here in my eyes.A lot of titles will hit 60fps 99% of the time (the 7970k/880k aren't as weak as you seem to think on the CPU side)

Yes an awful lot won't see past 40fps but that's still playable & the 470 4gbshould be good for 2-3 years - the 1050 will be a dead dodo performance wise within 12 months.

Current cheapest prices on partpicker
1050 $99.99
1050ti $132.99
Rx 470 4gb $149.99

The 470 is twice as strong as the 1050 non ti.

Been running a 970 on a 6300 for 3 years - smashes through most current titles at 60fps still now.That apu will have similar IPC to what I'm running , it will do the job IMO.

What's comical is people would have no problem recommending pairing a 470/480 with an old sandy/Ivy i5 2400/2500/3450 & the 880k is about on a par.

Is the rx 480 worth buying with my a10 7890k CPU?

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